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Day One of Roberts Hearings Complete; Power Outage in Southern California; Bush Tours Mississippi; Bill Frist Interview

Aired September 12, 2005 - 15:34   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: A big hug for John Roberts from his wife. His family is there, and his supporters, his friends. He made a very, very ad lib, if you will -- although I'm sure he practiced it several times, what he did was rather unusual for this kind of a situation.
He spoke without a prepared text. He spoke without notes. He simply looked at the various senators, 18 of them in front of them, and he delivered remarks as if from the heart. There's no doubt one of the phrases that he used would be very, very important down the road, if confirmed. He would call balls and strikes, using the baseball analogy, not pitch or bat.

Jeff Greenfield, what did you make of that presentation by John Roberts?

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, a couple of things. Someone who has argued, I think it's 39 cases before the Supreme Court, when it's fruitless to write anything out because you're constantly peppered by questions -- the way that skilled practitioners like Roberts do it, is you pretty much commit to memory what you want to say and are almost able to say it in almost any order, depending on what you're asked. So the fact that he did this without a prepared text that he was reading is testament to the fact that this is one of the highly skilled and probably one of the most accomplished litigators before the Supreme Court that we know.

We should also mention that some of your viewers who not don't normally watch news may have noticed a presence behind John Roberts. That's Fred Thompson, the former senator, now the fictional Manhattan D.A. on "Law and Order," who has been asked by the White House to shepherd John Roberts through the confirmation process.

But I think in this case, the notes that Roberts himself struck were notes we've been hearing ever since he was nominated -- modesty, humility, respect for precedent. No bomb thrower here. And in effect, it was almost a kind of preliminary answer to Chuck Schumer's line of inquiry. I am clearly in the mainstream. I am not out to be some kind of radical ideologue. You can trust me to be an umpire, not a player.

BLITZER: Well, stand by, Jeff. We're expecting the president to be making some remarks momentarily -- very, very soon. We'll go there in a moment.

But let's get a brief reaction from Jeff Toobin. Pretty good first impression a lot of people are going to come away with, Jeff? JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Boy, you know, when you're a Supreme Court advocate, you can talk on, you know, without notes and that makes such a difference. He certainly looked terrific making the statement.

But the thing that I -- that occurred to me, as he kept referring to himself as a baseball umpire, was a line from Marbury versus Madison, the 1803 case which is probably most famous Supreme Court case of all time. It is the province and duty of the court to say what the law is. He can't just be an umpire. He's got to make the rules, too. And I think that's what we're going to hear a lot about tomorrow.

BLITZER: All right, Jeff, stand by. We're just getting some videotape in from the president of the United States.

Let's listen to what he said on his tour earlier. This is tape.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: First of all, I want to thank the school principal for her hospitality. It's interesting, you know, she said she lost her school and lost her house, but I told her she hadn't lost her smile or her will to succeed.

Behind us, we've got U.S. troops and Mexican troops working together to help get this school up and running. The superintendent of schools here in the region tells me that they're trying to have everybody back in school by the end of October. And that's part of what you're beginning to see here, in Mississippi. This country is beginning to rebuild. And lives are starting over.

I want to thank the governor and the congressman for their hospitality.

And mayor, thank you, sir.

BRENT WARR, MAYOR OF GULFPORT, MISSISSIPPI: Yes, sir. Thank you.

BUSH: You've been in office for how long? Four months?

WARR: Two months.

BUSH: Two months.

WARR: Yes, sir. It seems like four.

BUSH: But there's remarkable spirit all across this -- all across this affected zone. A peculiar Mississippi spirit here, where there's a can-do attitude, and people are coming together and slowly but surely putting their lives back together.

The governor was telling me about the electricity. And the mayor has got a, you know, positive attitude.

I remember when I was down here last time, they were talking about gasoline. I saw a gasoline station up and running. So progress is being made.

And, yet, there's a lot of work to do, a lot of issues to be resolved, a lot of lives to be lifted up and a lot of hope to be restored.

I look forward to working with the congressional delegation and the congenial people from Mississippi and the two senators, of course, and the governors to address the problems. I mean, we are problem solvers and we look forward to working with the folks here.

I said something in Louisiana I want to repeat here in Mississippi, and that is, as these communities are rebuilt, they're going to be rebuilt by people from Mississippi. And as the coast is replanned and the vision of the coast emerges, it's going to be planned by the people of Mississippi. The role of the people in Washington is to support the governors and support the congressmen and support the mayors as a vision for what this part of the world will look like.

And it's important for people to understand that. And that's a pledge we will keep.

Now, your school's going to open before the end of October.

PHYLLIS BOURN, PRINCIPAL, 28TH STREET ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, GULFPORT, MISSISSIPPI: We're hoping for the end of October.

BUSH: End of October. Isn't that fantastic?

BOURN: Well, not the -- I'm sorry. The beginning of October.

BUSH: The beginning of October.

BOURN: For this school, this school, this school.

(APPLAUSE)

BUSH: Well, that's great.

Well, thank you all very much. Thanks for having me.

We doing another round of questions today or is one enough, you think?

QUESTION: Mr. President, have you accepted the resignation of Michael Brown? Have you heard about it?

BUSH: No, I have not talked to Michael Brown or Mike Chertoff. That's who I'd talk to. But, as you know, I've been working. And when I get on Air Force One, I will call back to Washington, but I've been on the move.

QUESTION: Our understanding is that he has resigned. That is his statement. Would that be appropriate...

BUSH: I haven't talked to Mike Chertoff yet, and that's what I intend to do when I get on the plane.

Maybe you know something I don't know. But as you know, we've been working and I haven't had a chance to get on the phone.

I just came from an extraordinary event.

When I say I've been working, what I've been doing is thanking people. We came from a church that's feeding people who need help and there are people from all over the country there. It was unbelievable. And so I was spending time thanking them and lifting their spirits, so I can't comment on something that you may know more about than I do.

So don't ask me again about the subject.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: ... were you disappointed in the job that he did?

BUSH: We went through this, this morning, as you know. And I said there's -- I haven't changed my mind since you asked that question, or somebody asked the question about an hour ago.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

BUSH: No, it's the same spirit, and that is that there'll be plenty of time to figure out what went right and what went wrong.

And the reason why it's important for us to figure that out at a national level is that if a major event were to come, another major event, we want to make sure that there's appropriate relationship between the state and local government. And so it's appropriate that we step back and take a look.

Here in Mississippi and in Louisiana, people want to move forward. They understand there's time to try to blame somebody, but they want to get their lives back together. And that's the spirit I've seen and that's what I'm...

QUESTION: On rebuilding, when you say it's up to -- the vision of it is up to those on the ground, the local decisions, does that mean the federal government doesn't want to help rebuild things exactly, as vulnerable as they were?

BUSH: Well, you see, I think that nobody wants to build a fragile society. Everybody wants to -- when you rebuild, rebuild better. And we want to work with the local folks to achieve that.

The congressman brought up an interesting issue. He said that he is waiting to find out what height -- in order for federal money to come in, the houses have to be built to a certain height. He is not trying to figure out the height; he just wants an answer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Same thing with the highways, for example. We can't -- the highway commission can't put out contracts for bridges until the Coast Guard tells us how the vertical clearance has to be.

BUSH: And so obviously there's a collaborative effort.

And what the congressman's basic point was, and the governor's point is, how about getting us the answers, for one reason -- they want to get going, which is exciting news. And so that's the kind of relationship I'm talking about.

QUESTION: A lot of local people are asking about insurance, the flood versus wind. What can you...

(CROSSTALK)

BUSH: I can't give an answer to that right now, but I am taking back the message again of the congressman and the governor and particularly a lady I met at the church.

She said she had lived here for a long period of time. And she said, I want to ask you something, Mr. President. She said, how would you like it if your insurance company said, 'Ma'am, this is a flood event and therefore I'm not going to cover your house'?

I said I wouldn't like a bit.

She said, well, that's just what happened to me today.

She had come back from where she had evacuated to, to hear that message. And she asked my opinion. And I said, I will find out the process that determines whether or not it's a wind or water event.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: ... what are your objectives on foreign policy over the next couple of days? What trips can you put in place to keep your attention...

BUSH: I can do more than one thing at one time. That's what I hope you were going to -- by the time I'm finished president, I hope you'll realize that the government can do more than one thing at one time and individuals in the government can.

And so I'll be in constant touch with -- I have a hurricane recovery briefing every morning, for example. And I'll be in touch with Mike Chertoff. Andy Card on my staff will be in touch with the appropriate people.

And so, if I'm focusing on the hurricane, I've got the capacity to focus on foreign policy and vice versa. But -- and I thank you for asking that question.

(CROSSTALK)

BUSH: Thank you all.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BLITZER: The president touring Mississippi. Earlier in the day, he was in New Orleans. You saw the governor of Mississippi, Haley Barbour, standing behind him.

The president declining to comment on the resignation of Mike Brown as the FEMA director, saying he had not spoken with Mr. Brown yet, had not spoken with the Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, yet would be fully briefed on that matter.

Let's bring in the Senate Majority Leader Dr. Bill Frist who is joining us now from Capitol Hill. You were down there dealing with the hurricane relief yourself, Senator Frist. First of all, what do you make of Mike Brown's decision to resign as FEMA director?

SEN. BILL FRIST, (R) MAJORITY LEADER: Wolf, I am not surprised by it. With the move in position the last few days -- and let me say right at the outset, I am so impressed with Admiral Allen, right now, the Coast Guard who is down there running the show now. He has the authority. He has the command structure. I'm very pleased. I, too, have not talked to anybody about the resignation today. I've heard it through news reports. I'm not terribly surprised by that, but I am very pleased with the leadership that we have now, the command and control we have.

As you mentioned, I was down there Saturday and Sunday a week or eight or nine days ago, and things didn't go as well as it should have. And I say that as a medical responder. Over a couple of days, things got much, much better, and now I'm very pleased where we are. But we've got a lot to learn by going back and looking at what went wrong and what went right.

BLITZER: What do you think of the notion that whoever the president appoints to replace Mike Brown should be someone who is not necessarily a political operative, a political ally or associate, but someone like Vice Admiral Thad Allen who spent 30 years-plus in the U.S. Coast Guard dealing with these kinds of emergencies? Get someone in there to run FEMA who is a career professional as opposed to a political ally?

FRIST: Well you know, one of the problems -- first of all, let me say I agree with your whole premise there. But one of the problems that we're facing at the federal level and at the state level and at the local level -- and again, not casting blame anywhere -- is a total system-wide failure, because people making decisions hesitated, or it seems to me, instead of making good decisions, good information, based on a lot of experience.

So I can assure you from our standpoint, at least from the federal standpoint, from the Senate standpoint, when people go into these positions of authority, seeing what we've seen happen over the last several weeks -- kooking back even at anthrax that we had four years ago, just five weeks after 9/11 -- we need people in that position with authority, with good command and control, with a lot of experience, real-life experience. And then we got to go back and fix the entire system. BLITZER: I want to get your reaction to the John Roberts confirmation hearings which began today. But one quick question. Did this lack of response, or at least the response that you're not satisfied with, the president wasn't satisfied with, did it underline a certain vulnerability that we have in this country to a disaster, whether a man-made disaster like another terror attack or a natural disaster?

FRIST: Wolf, it does. And when we look at the current threats, both natural disaster and man-made, natural disaster, something like avian flu. Avian flu, right now, in other parts of the world, we know that there have been antigenetic shifts and drifts, which make us at risk today. That puts millions of lives at risk, potentially here in the United States. Are we prepared? I don't think we're fully prepared yet. And that's a natural disaster.

Bioterrorism itself, smallpox. Right now an atomizer of smallpox at an airport has the risk to cause panic and paralysis, and can only be countered by a very efficient system with good resources, good command and control, good communications, all of which wasn't up to the expectation of what Americans deserve.

BLITZER: And getting these live pictures, these -- not live pictures, but this is new video we're getting in. This is a California Highway Patrol helicopter, Senator Frist, flying over yet another home that's out of control. That's burning in New Orleans. Unfortunately, we've seen this so many times over the past couple of weeks. The floods weren't enough, fires are joining that scene. We'll continue to show these pictures to our viewers.

But while I have you, John Roberts, he spoke very eloquently, very movingly. You were there. If he doesn't answer the questions, though, that so many of the Democrats say they will ask and so many of the questions that even Senator Arlen Specter, the chairman, say he will ask, is he going to be in trouble?

FRIST: Well, Wolf, I -- we just completed the hearing, as you know, about five minutes ago. And I think Judge Roberts' remarks there at the end -- I'm not sure whether you covered them live --

BLITZER: We did. We covered the whole thing live.

FRIST: Yes. But it really is the rule of law, the humility. He's not a politician. He doesn't have a platform. I thought he captured it in those first few minutes.

Now there are going to be all sorts of questions over the next three days, the next four days. They're going to be non-stop. There are going to be certain lines that will be drawn, and I think senators will push and try to cross that line. But I think he has the experience to know how far to go.

Obviously, something out of bounds would be, how are you going to vote in a certain situation or on a certain case in the future? Although I'm sure he's going to be asked that. I think he has the -- I know he has the intellect, I know he has the intelligence, he has the integrity, and he has the judicial temperament, not only to be a great chief justice, but also to go through these hearings in a way that is dignified, respectful, and will give us a good reflection of that intellect, intelligence, integrity and judicial temperament.

BLITZER: Senator Frist, thanks so much for joining us. We'll be speaking down the road.

FRIST: Good. Good to be with you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Thank you. Let's bring in our senior legal analyst Jeff Toobin. We've been talking about the way he made that presentation after he was sworn in, Jeff, and he spoke without notes. He spoke without a prepared speech, although, as Jeff Greenfield accurately pointed out, I am sure he rehearsed that over and over and over again. That's what they do, these lawyers, when they make their presentations before the Supreme Court. They go in there and practice, practice, practice.

TOOBIN: And one of the differences between the Supreme Court of today and the last 10 years, and the previous 10 years, is that the court today, the court that John Roberts has argued in front of, and presumably will join, is what's known as a hot bench. They ask a lot of questions. The lawyers barely get a sentence or two out first, before usually Justice O'Connor asks the first questions, and from the there it's off to the races. You can't prepare any sort of text, because they'll take you off it right away.

And I think Jeff is right that Judge Roberts did rehearse, but it sure didn't sound rehearsed. I mean it sounded like he was speaking from the heart, like he was relaxed, confident, sincere. And that will go a long way in presenting himself in a favorable light to the senators and to the public.

However, you know, his core point that, you know, I'm just an umpire, I'm not going to make the rules. You know, I don't know how much that's going to wash, because, you know, the Supreme Court, they make the rules, whether they like it or not. And he's going to have to say something, if not everything, about the kind of rules he's going to make.

BLITZER: All right. Let me bring in our other Jeff, Jeff Greenfield. What was your moment there, or at least among the moments, what stands out?

GREENFIELD: Well one thing that we did not cover, which I think we have on tape and we will see, is a rather extraordinary moment. When freshman Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, a very conservative Republican, a doctor -- he's the one who suggested that if abortion is ever made criminal again, doctors who perform them might be subject to the death penalty. He very much is his own guy. He's alienated or at least gone against even his own party leaders on some issues.

But in his opening statement, he got extremely emotional when he was talking about the breakdown of civility in the United States Senate and partisanship. And for someone reading a prepared statement, this was, I must say, something I can't quite remember ever seeing. I think we have it. If we can see it, let's take a look at it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TOM COBURN, (R) OKLAHOMA: When I ponder our country and its greatness, its weaknesses, its potential, my heart aches for less divisiveness, less polarization, less finger-pointing, less bitterness, less mindless partisanship, which at times sounds almost hateful to the ear of Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GREENFIELD: As I say, Wolf, I have watched these hearings, man and boy, as they say, for many decades. It's been a long time since I can remember a senator getting that emotional, and almost never in the course of reading a prepared statement. So it tells you that even in a situation that's relatively controlled, emotions can run high and sometimes surprisingly so.

BLITZER: Yes. That was pretty emotional for Tom Coburn, who is a medical doctor himself, the freshman senator from Oklahoma. I'm going to get back to both of you shortly, Jeff Toobin, Jeff Greenfield, our analysts standing by.

The other important story we've been following over the last hour or so, the resignation of Mike Brown as the FEMA director, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Let me read the statement that he released in announcing he was stepping down.

"Today I resigned as director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. As I told the president, it is important that I leave now to avoid further distraction from the ongoing mission of FEMA."

He must have told the president that privately, because the president said he hasn't spoken -- he must have written that to the president, because the president said he hasn't spoken directly with Mr. Brown.

Mr. Brown goes on to say this.

"It has been an honor and a privilege to serve this president and to work shoulder to shoulder with the hard-working men and women of FEMA. They carry out an unusually difficult task under the harshest of circumstances. My respect for these dedicated professionals and this organization is unyielding."

And he winds up by saying, "There is no other government agency that reaches people in a more direct way. It has been the best job in the world to help Americans in their darkest hours."

A statement issued by Michael Brown, Under Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, the Director of FEMA.

Jack Cafferty, what do you make of it?

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Well we were curious, now that he's gone, who the viewers think ought to be the next head of that organization. It's going to have to be somebody who can address the fact that the next three or four top-ranking executives in order down the chain of command at FEMA are, like Mr. Brown, political friends of the administration, with virtually no experience in crisis management.

So we get this from Ray in New York. "How about Rudy Giuliani?"

And Tim in Los Angeles writes, "Colin Powell. He has the military back ground, organizational skills and public support."

Angie (ph) writes, "I think we should appoint former President Bill Clinton."

Nelson in Angier, North Carolina, "The clear leader in this whole mess, General Honore. Who could oppose the appointment of this John Wayne dude", he calls him, "as the next director of FEMA?"

Darryn in Ontario, Canada, "Wesley Clark should be the replacement. He's a military man, experienced. He's a Democrat with some right wing leaning, so surely Bush could get along with him. And, hey, he has a valid resume."

And then Val in Florida says, "Hey, Jack, I'd like my daughter to be the next FEMA director. She is unemployed and apparently has as much experience as Mike Brown".

Some of the folks a bit cynical watching here.

BLITZER: Val looking for a job for his daughter. I've been in that position. You've been in that position. And I suppose a lot of our viewers have been in that position. Jack, thanks very much.

CAFFERTY: That's true. All right, Wolf.

BLITZER: Thank you very much.

We're going to take a quick break. Much more of our coverage. We're watching these two stories, the John Roberts confirmation hearings. History being made here in Washington. They opened before the Senate Judiciary Committee today.

Also, the latest, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. It's exactly two weeks, two weeks to the day since that hurricane landed on the Gulf Coast.

Much more of our coverage right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: It's almost time for the markets to close. The closing bell coming up. Let's check in with CNN's Ali Velshi. He's in New York for that. Ali?

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Wolf, good to see you. There's a number of things going on. Markets are getting ready to close, as you said. But, you know, a few weeks ago we went live to a picture in Louisiana. This was well before the hurricane stuff. This was -- there was an oil refinery that had a fire, if you recall. And we spoke to the fire chief in Meraux. This is a Murphy Oil refinery. Well that plant, that refinery, has leaked some -- it's leaking about 672,000 gallons of crude oil. This is one of a number of problems that the Coast Guard is looking at in and around the New Orleans area. There are a lot of refineries, as you know, and there has been some damage. That is contributing to this toxic sludge, the soup that we are seeing in New Orleans, Wolf.

And I want to show you a map of a bunch of other things that are going on. This is not crude oil spills. But there are just so many toxic things going into the water around there. Those yellow dots right around New Orleans, yellow squares, are all facilities that have to report to the EPA, because they have toxins in their manufacturing. There are some 300 toxins that are now leaking into the area. And that's contributing to this water in New Orleans that's causing a problem. There are a number of oil spills in southeast Louisiana.

And so it's not just the wreckage and the things that we've been hearing about, Wolf. There are actually chemicals in that water right now. The Coast Guard is working hard with the EPA to try to get a handle on how serious it is and how long it will take to clean that up, Wolf.

BLITZER: So is there some light at the end of this tunnel or is there just darkness out there?

VELSHI: Well, I mean, the light at the end of the tunnel is that they are getting a handle on it, and they are trying to figure out what it is. We've now, having seen some of the water recede, they are starting to see what the damage is.

Look, there's no way to sugarcoat it. It's damage. It's toxins. It's a lot of things in there. But you know, frankly, for those people who have lost their homes or relatives or their loves, this comes a little further down the road. There are insurance claims and adjusters going in there to help people out. It's going to be a mess for a while.

BLITZER: They are applauding at the NASDAQ. They always applaud when the markets close. Why do they do that?

VELSHI: For better, for worse. It was either a day you made money, or you're happy that the day is over. The NASDAQ, not a lot of money to be made, 7 points higher to 2,182. Over at the Dow, which is virtually flat, 2 points higher to 10,681.

A lot of big deals in the news today. Oracle buying Siebel for over $5 billion, eBay buying Skype. And news emerging, a lot of reports about Delta Airlines filing for bankruptcy this week.

Wolf?

BLITZER: All right, Ali. They always applaud. If the markets go up, go down, they're always applauding. I don't know why. Thanks very much, Ali. We'll check back with you.

To our viewers, you're in THE SITUATION ROOM where new pictures and information from the Gulf Coast are arriving all the time.

Happening now -- President Bush wraps up his third trip to the hurricane disaster area. And the FEMA director he shoved aside now has stepped down. We'll have the latest on hurricane politics, including a new Bush approval rating out this hour.

It's 3:00 p.m. Central Time along the Gulf Coast. Making slow progress toward recovery. Floodwaters keep going down in New Orleans and some children are going back to school in Mississippi.

And it's 4:00 p.m. here in Washington where John Roberts has been in the hot seat on Capitol Hill. Are we learning anything new about the chief justice nominee? Or are the senators getting ready to grill him?

I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

This hour, President Bush is returning to Washington from the Gulf Coast and his already disgraced FEMA director is calling it quits. Just a short time ago we got word that Mike Brown has formally resigned. He was sent back to Washington just three days ago amid fierce criticism of this job he was doing and serious questions about his qualifications.

President Bush got to see Brown's on-site replacement in action today during stops in Gulfport, Mississippi and earlier in the day in New Orleans. It was his first on-the-ground look at that devastated Louisiana city. The state of Louisiana has raised its official Katrina death toll now to 279. Meantime, the floodwaters continue to recede, with 40 percent of the city still under water or thick sludge.

And the lights are back for almost 169,000 customers along the Mississippi coast. That's the most Mississippi Power says it can reconnect right now. More than 20,000 additional customers still don't have electricity.

More now on Mike Brown's resignation from FEMA and the reaction. Our correspondents Suzanne Malveaux, Jeanne Meserve, Ed Henry, all of them are standing by.

First let's go to the White House and Suzanne. Suzanne?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, this is really a rarity for the White House, for the Bush administration. It really puts a premium on loyalty.

But it was clear from the early days there was a serious problem here with Mike Brown. Senior administration officials setting up a timeline for us, saying it was Wednesday, just two days after the hurricane hit, when Homeland Secretary Michael Chertoff told the president at the White House in a morning meeting that he was essentially going to move him to a desk job, that he would be out of the field. They were not happy with his performance then. Thursday, Chertoff traveling with Vice President Cheney in the damaged regions. Cheney saying he heard an earful from Republicans, as well as Democrats, who were unhappy with the FEMA effort. And then it followed with Friday, of course, Chief of Staff Andy Card got word that the choice to replace him, at least on the ground, would be Thad Allen.

Even on that day, Wolf, the president was not willing to disparage Mike Brown in any way, in fact saying, "Brownie, you are doing a heck of a job." The FEMA director is working 24 hours a day. But it has become very clear the president, under increasing pressure, FEMA under increasing pressure as well as Homeland Security to hold someone to account.

Wolf?

BLITZER: Suzanne, thank you very much. CNN's Jeanne Meserve is learning more about this resignation of Mike Brown. Jeanne is joining us now live. Jeanne?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, I'm told there was a phone conversation on Saturday between Michael Brown and Andy Card, the White House chief of staff. And that Brown came to the conclusion that he should leave.

I'm told by a FEMA spokeswoman he was not under any pressure to do so. In his letter to the president this morning, I'm told he said that it was important to leave now to avoid further distraction from the ongoing mission of FEMA and that it has been an honor to serve the president, work with the people of FEMA, and help Americans in their darkest hour.

According to the spokeswoman for FEMA, leaving is something he's been thinking of for some time, but, of course, circumstances were such that that timetable was moved up. I am also told by a couple of sources that the White House is expected to move very quickly to replace him. We do not have a name at this point in time, but something expected very quick in this regard.

And I should mention, Wolf, that the job is changing a little bit. FEMA, under the proposed reorganization of Secretary Chertoff, will have a different role than it has. It will not be dealing with preparedness. It will only be dealing with response and recovery. So whoever comes in here will have a different mission than Michael Brown did.

Wolf?

BLITZER: And we got the wrong time underneath you. It's 4:05 p.m. here in Washington, not 3:05. We'll correct that. Thanks very much, Jeanne Meserve.

Let's go up to Capitol Hill. Ed Henry is getting more reaction to Mike Brown's decision to step down. Ed?

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They told me a short while ago up here they believe the Republican Party believes this is good politically because it's going to take this issue off the table -- getting Mike Brown out of the way.

But I think that may be wishful thinking because the Democrats are pouncing here. Democrats are basically saying -- they are emboldened. They have been calling for Mike Brown's head for over a week now. They've gotten it. So they want much more. Just a few moments ago, Senator Hillary Clinton said that they basically need an independent commission. She reiterated her call for just that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON, (D) NY: I've called for an independent Katrina commission because I don't think it's appropriate or possible for the government to investigate itself. With all due respect, I don't think the president investigating himself and his administration is going to give us the answers or the clear-headed realistic recommendations for the future.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HENRY: But I literally just ran into Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist in an elevator here in the Capitol. And he told me an independent commission is not going to fly. He said instead he believes Congress should not abdicate its responsibility of oversight here. He thinks this House/Senate joint committee probe is going to move forward. But I can tell you, there are others who do not believe that committee probe is really moving forward. It's still stalled at this moment, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Ed Henry reporting for us on Capitol Hill. Ed, thank you very much.

I want to go back to the White House. Suzanne Malveaux is there. Suzanne, update our viewers on the president's trip back to the Gulf region today. I take it he's now getting ready to come back to Washington.

MALVEAUX: You are absolutely right, Wolf. President Bush is on his way back to the White House. He was in Gulfport, Mississippi, visiting some of the -- toured the damaged areas and also ground zero in New Orleans.

Very interesting some of the pictures that came out of that trip. We saw the president -- this is the first time he really traveled in an open-air convoy through the streets of New Orleans. And, of course, we were not given the location in advance because of security reasons. But that convoy snaked through the mud and the muck and, of course, the message was to show how there were recovery efforts.

The president also got some pretty tough questions as well, asking whether there was a racial component to this because of so many of the victims were black and were poor and abandoned. The president very sharply saying that the hurricane didn't discriminate and he said recovery efforts don't discriminate. He also defended as well saying there were enough resources to keep the U.S. mission in Iraq going, at the same time responding to a natural disaster at home.

Wolf?

BLITZER: That picture of the president in the vehicle going through the streets of New Orleans on one side he had the mayor, Ray Nagin, on the other side the governor, Kathleen Blanco and then he had Thad Allen, the vice admiral, the Coast Guard vice admiral who is in charge on the scene.

When they say pictures speak louder than words, certainly in that particular case it does show that despite differences, at least over the past several days, they seem to be -- and I use the word seem -- they seem to be all on the same wavelength right now. Is that the impression you are getting?

MALVEAUX: Well, Wolf, certainly the photo ops -- and you bring up a very good point here because these are his harshest critics he is seen cozying up to. We saw the president give a hug and a kiss good- bye to Governor Blanco when he left. And we also saw some pictures of him, of course, receiving his briefing from his new chief on the ground aboard the USS Iwo Jima with the governor, with the mayor of New Orleans, side by side, sandwiched between them, to give a sense of unity here, to give a message that look, we are looking forward. This is about recovery. We have put aside some of our differences.

But make no mistake. Of course, the debate still continues on how this is going to be investigated. There are some big disagreements over that and there is still a lot of debate over who is responsible, essentially, for the recovery, the slow and sluggish recovery.

BLITZER: Suzanne, thank you very much. Suzanne Malveaux at the White House.

President Bush's stepped up response to the Katrina disaster may be helping to push up his poll numbers a little bit. A new CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup survey out this hour shows Mr. Bush's approval rating is up to 46 percent. That's 4 to 8 points higher than other polls taken over the past week. When you average all those polls together, by the way, Mr. Bush gets a 42 percent job approval rating.

Our Bill Schneider will have much more ahead on the president's poll numbers and how Katrina figures in. That's coming up shortly.

Let's get a little bit of an update now on the recovery efforts under way in New Orleans. For that, we'll turn to CNN's Sean Callebs. He's on the scene for us. Sean?

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, you can probably hear some of the helicopters overhead. And indeed, if you look behind me, you can see some cleanup going on in front of historic Jackson Square.

For the past 24 hours, employees with the Bureau of Indian Affairs as well as the Coast Guard have done an amazing job cleaning up this area, chiefly from large limbs from magnolia trees and oak trees. This Decatur Street, right on the fringe of the French Quarter. Really, the French Quarter fairing relatively well, didn't experience this very serious flooding that much of the other city did.

Now on that topic, about 80 percent of the city was flooded at the height. It's down to about 50 percent now. Also power is beginning to come back on. And for the first time, some businessmen, business leaders had a chance to come into New Orleans today and actually go into their buildings, take out papers, do whatever they needed. But they had to leave shortly thereafter.

The military has made it clear, it is not going to force the evacuation of the remaining 10,000 or so residents still in the city. But no one is being allowed back in at this point.

Also a very grim task by many soldiers that are out patrolling the streets -- some literally going door to door checking houses, looking for survivors and fatalities. We ran into a group from Oregon a short while ago, Wolf, and they told us they had found some survivors doing remarkably well, considering they probably have been holed up for a couple of weeks and yes they did tell us that once again, they are finding bodies.

Wolf?

BLITZER: Sean, when I interviewed General Russel Honore, the military commander on the scene yesterday, he thought the number of dead in Louisiana and New Orleans was going to be way, way lower than the 10,000 some had initially feared. What's the latest on that? What are you hearing?

CALLEBS: Well, the latest we heard was earlier in the day, much earlier in the day at about 197. Indeed, much lower. Indeed, one of the individuals talking about that 10,000 figure was the mayor of the city. But the general apparently is going to be on target from what everybody is telling us. It's going to be nowhere near 10,000. Certainly welcome news, for even one fatality is too many in a storm like this. But certainly significantly lower than the 10,000 the mayor predicted.

BLITZER: And as General Honore said, if you have to be wrong about something, this is as good an issue to be wrong about if possible. Sean, thank you very much.

Let's go to CNN's Jack Cafferty. He's standing by with another question he's come up with this hour. Jack?

CAFFERTY: Wolf, ever since the roar of criticism over Hurricane Katrina in the last week, the Bush administration has been in damage control mode. Today marked the president's third trip to the battered Gulf Coast region since the hurricane struck. Mr. Bush said now is not the time for the blame game. This while many politicians have promised investigations into what went wrong.

In the meantime, as you mentioned a moment ago, the latest CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll shows the president's approval rating is higher than many other polls taken in the last week.

Here's the question for this hour. Is the administration's damage control working? The email address is CaffertyFile - one word -- @CNN.com.

BLITZER: Jack, we'll check back with you shortly. Thank you.

Still ahead, lessons in recovery. A hopeful sign for some of the youngest hurricane victims.

Also ahead, President Bush's efforts to help the people hardest hit by Katrina. Is he helping to improve his own poll numbers in the process?

And later, day one of the John Roberts confirmation hearings. Is the stage set for a cake walk or for clashes?

You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

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BLITZER: We'll get back to the state of emergency in the Gulf region, what's happening in New Orleans and Mississippi, the resignation of Mike Brown as FEMA director in just a moment or so.

But there's a very important story that's been happening here in Washington today. We've been covering it -- if you've been watching THE SITUATION ROOM -- since noon Eastern. And that is the confirmation hearings of John Roberts as the next potentially Supreme Court -- the chief justice of the United States.

One of the men helping him in trying to prepare for these hearings, Ed Gillespie, the former Republican National Committee chairman. He's joining us from Capitol Hill right now. Ed, thanks very much for joining us.

ED GILLESPIE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Thank you for having me, Wolf.

BLITZER: Well, I'm sure you were very happy with the way it went. But as far as the Democrats and their opening statements were concerned, was there anything that alarmed you for the grilling he's going to get in the next few days?

GILLESPIE: Wolf, there's not. Those of us who have been working with Judge Roberts on his confirmation at the White House understand that senators on both sides of the aisle on the Judiciary Committee are going to rightly exercise their advice, consent capacity and we've always expected there will be a vigorous questioning and that they would want to weigh Judge Roberts.

And I think they will see in him as they saw in his opening statement a man at the end of this process who clearly is one who reveres the rule of laws as protecting all Americans. Someone who is fair and even-handed and open minded. And I believe at the end of this confirmation process in the United States Senate, he'll be confirmed as chief justice.

BLITZER: How have you been counseling him or advising him to deal with questions that are going to come up involving the right to privacy?

GILLSESPIE: Well, Wolf, in terms of these questions, as they've come, as they will come before the committee, I wanted to defer to the members of the Senate and I will tell you this. Judge Roberts is not one, as you saw in an opening statement he made without the benefit of a single note on a blank piece of paper in front of him, who needs counseling.

But I think that it is right to note in the past, as we've seen with all the justices sitting on the Supreme Court today, that the precedent has been that when asked to give their view on a ruling that may come before the court again at some time, that they have rightly refused to compromise the integrity or the independence of the judicial branch of government to the legislative branch of government. So I think we'll just wait to see what the questions are. And if they are questions posed in a way that the nominee can answer without undermining the independence of the judicial branch, he will.

BLITZER: Ed Gillespie, we'll be speaking often in the next few days. Thanks very much for joining us.

GILLESPIE: Thanks for having me.

BLITZER: We're going to take a -- we've got a developing story we're following. CNN's Zain Verjee at the CNN Center in Atlanta. What's going on, Zain?

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, a major portion of Los Angeles has lost power. Outages have been reported from downtown all the way to the San Fernando Valley. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is saying that they don't really know what's caused it. They have no explanation for what's happened.

We are trying to work and get you more details on this. But that's all we know right now. CNN can confirm that a major portion of Los Angeles has lost power. Wolf?

BLITZER: Do we -- have we established, do you know, Zain, if we have established contact with our Los Angeles bureau?

VERJEE: We have, and they have confirmed that that is what's happened. And they are working to try to get some details.

BLITZER: And where they are, have they lost power there in the L.A. -- in the area where our Los Angeles bureau is located?

VERJEE: They could well have. This has just come in. I haven't been in direct contact with them, but they have been able to tell us this is what's happened and there have been outage failures all the way from downtown to the San Fernando Valley.

BLITZER: All right. We'll try to get our bureau chief, Pete Janos (ph) on the phone and see what's going on there.

But as Zain just reported, a big chunk of Los Angeles now without power. It's about 1:19 on the -- Pacific Time in the early afternoon in Los Angeles. Big chunk without power. We don't know what's going on. We'll try to find out and bring that information to you as soon as we know a little bit more about what's going on. Zain is all over this story right now.

In is President Bush weathering the political storm over Katrina? Up next, we'll premiere some brand new poll numbers. Some of them may surprise you. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: There's a big chunk of Los Angeles that has just lost electrical power. We're not exactly sure what's going on. Let's bring in CNN's Jen Rogers. She is in our Los Angeles bureau. What do we know, Jen?

We're going to go to Jen Rogers in a moment. Zain Verjee is with us. Zain, what else are you picking up?

VERJEE: Well we know, Wolf, that the outages have been reported from downtown all the way to the San Fernando Valley. The Los Angeles Department of Water and power is saying they don't know what the cause of this has been. There's no clear explanation for what's happened. All we know is that a major portion of Los Angeles is out of power.

CNN's L.A. bureau lost power also briefly but then it came back on. We're located in downtown L.A. on Sunset Boulevard. We are working to get more information on this, Wolf but that's all we know. A major chunk of Los Angeles out of power.

BLITZER: Stand by, Zain. CNN's Ali Velshi is in New York. This reminds me, I hope it's not necessarily the same thing, of what happened in New York City when there was a blackout not all that long ago. I happened to be in New York that day and it was ugly.

VELSHI: Yeah, it was. And as you know, Wolf, the first thing people think about is, what does this mean? Now we've been seeing reports about outages in the area around Los Angeles. So the speculation -- it's not speculation. Here's what I'm going to tell you. I think that the reports lead us to believe that there have been outages developing through the course of the day in the area.

Now we do know that there are a number of traffic lights out. But as you know, California has in the past been susceptible to brownout. This could be a grid problem. We are trying to get a hold of people in Los Angeles to give us updates geographically as to where the areas are that are affected.

And quite strangely, a number of phones are not working or are giving us constant busy signals. But we are trying to update and report on what is affected. We do know that there were scattered reports of outages earlier, Wolf. So there is some speculation this may not be one big incident. So this may be a collection of things that has caused brownouts and maybe a blackout.

We'll keep on top of this and keep bringing you information on what's happening in Los Angeles. We are getting reports now that Los Angeles Airport, LAX. We do not have an update on information from them since this morning. They haven't updated their Web site. We have had some scattered reports that there is power at LAX. So we will continue to get this back to you as it develops, Wolf.

BLITZER: Ali, stand by. The Associated Press is reporting, as we are, that a large portion of Los Angeles has lost power, electrical power has been lost. The power was knocked out shortly before 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time. That would be just before 4:00 p.m. Eastern, about 26, 27 minutes ago.

The A.P., the Associated Press, saying there were two power surges that apparently had something to do with this. Traffic lights throughout downtown Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley were not working. There are major traffic problems according to video from helicopter news crews -- this according to the Associated Press. Downtown high rises, also have been darkened. The city's Department of Water and Power says it's investigating the cause and extent of the outage. But once again, power lost to a big chunk of L.A.

I think Jen Rogers is in our Los Angeles bureau. Jen, can you hear me okay?

JEN ROGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf, I can hear you. We do have power here, although we did lose it for a very short period of time. What we're being told by the Department of Water and Power is that the parts of the Valley, Downtown and parts of Hollywood, are out of power. We are in Hollywood right now. The Valley is just north of us. Downtown is to the east of us.

I was actually outside the bureau when we lost power momentarily. And just in that short period of time when the traffic signals all went out, of course, that wreaked havoc just on this one little corner. So you can imagine what's going on in the rest of the city. The DWP also telling us nothing suspicious at this point. And as you said, they are investigating.

BLITZER: How unusual, Jen, is this for a piece of Los Angeles to lose electrical power, these brownouts, if, in fact, this is a brownout?

ROGER: Well, if it is a brownout, it isn't highly unusual on a hot day. We do lose power from time to time. That being said, it's not incredibly hot here right now. So in that way, it could be seen as a little bit more unusual. I have in just the past week in my own house lost power twice. So that might give you an idea of this. But not at all on this range. This is much more extensive than anything we've seen recently.

BLITZER: Are the local television stations on the air right now?

ROGERS: You know what, Wolf? I can't actually see them. So I can't tell you right now what's going on with them. BLITZER: But you'll be taking a look very, very soon. Jen Rogers is on the scene for us in Los Angeles. She's in our Los Angeles bureau. We did lose power in our Los Angeles bureau, albeit very briefly. Our L.A. bureau is in Hollywood.

Ali Velshi, what do you make of this based on Jen Rogers' report?

VELSHI: All right. We're just getting some reports. We're speaking to Cedars Sinai Hospital right outside of Beverly Hills and they said just what Jen said. They lost power around 1:00 p.m. Eastern. It came back very quickly, which -- again purely speculative, Wolf -- but you've seen these things before. When power goes out, in different places at different times and starts to come out, it does suggest maybe a transmission problem more than a major outage.

That is what the authorities in Los Angeles are speculating at the moment -- that it could be a transmission problem. That's from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. We're continuing to see how widespread this is and whether there's any fallout. But for the moment it seems to be some places experience a power outage and got it back about half an hour ago after being out of power for a very short amount of time, Wolf.

BLITZER: Refresh our viewers, their memories, the blackout in New York. And I remember that day very, very vividly. Did they ever determine 100 percent the cause of that?

VELSHI: Yeah, you know, energy, it's hard to sort of conceive of. But electricity travels back and forth on grids, and the whole Northeast of the United States with some very specific exceptions, operated on one grid. Faults in one part of that grid sort of set everybody off in a domino fashion. That's what kind of happened in the middle of August a few years ago with the blackout.

Now what we are looking at here, California has got a whole different system of issues going on that go back a few years that have caused them to have these brownouts or transmission problems over time.

So, obviously, the first thing one wants to worry about, Wolf, when you see a transmission outage or power outage, is whether there are safety problems, whether it's a security problem and whether emergency services are up and running. So that's what we're looking at first.

But California has been looking at how to transmit power and make it more effective and not have people suffer brownouts. This goes back to deregulation in California, which was a very different problem than what we faced in the Northeast of the United States with the blackouts. That was simply a flaw in the system.

So the likelihood is that these are separate and sort of different problems. But as you know from being here during the blackout, Wolf -- and I'm just keeping my eye, one eye on the computer to see what we're getting updates on. As you know from being here, how a major city deals with something like this is where it becomes important. In L.A., we do have reports of traffic signal lights that don't have power. That, of course is a major, problem in a place like L.A. because of the traffic, because of the number of cars on the road.

Wolf.

BLITZER: It was almost two years exactly, a little more than two years since that blackout in New York City. These are live pictures, Ali, that we're getting in from Los Angeles right now. You can see some of the traffic problems. If the lights go out in a city like Los Angeles, that could not be -- that could be a disaster, potentially, given all the traffic that they have there.

Jen Rogers is in our Los Angeles bureau. Jen, what else are you hearing?

ROGERS: Well, Wolf, we're really trying to get a handle on how many people this is impacting right now. The latest from the DWP, they are saying that the southern part of the San Fernando Valley is out and large parts of downtown. They are just saying at this point thousands and thousands of people are affected, but no hard numbers beyond that.

What we do have from the Los Angeles Police Department is very important. And this is that they are on what they are calling tactical alert. And that means they are only responding to life-threatening emergencies. Right now, they're being overwhelmed with phone calls. So, of course, if you are watching this and you do not have a life- threatening emergency, do not call the police about it. Because, again, they are on tactical alert right now and they are only responding to life-threatening emergencies.

Wolf.

BLITZER: And as far as we know, at least in parts of Los Angeles, Jen, the power is still out.

ROGERS: There are parts of Los Angeles. We are in one of those parts right now. We have power right now. We did dip for a very brief period of time, but we do still have power. And there are certainly other parts that still have power as well.

BLITZER: And we're showing our viewers some live pictures. I want to take a look at these live pictures from a sky camera, from the helicopter flying over. You see the traffic. You see at these intersections, cars moving very, very gently, very deliberately because the traffic lights are out in parts of Los Angeles. So everyone is trying to move forward, slowly but surely, to make sure there are no traffic accidents. You get to these intersections with no traffic lights, people want to be very, very careful.

These are live pictures that we're seeing coming in from Los Angeles. These pictures courtesy of our affiliate KTLA. All of our affiliates now in Los Angeles are all over this story. Large parts of L.A. losing electrical power right now, including our own CNN bureau for -- briefly lost some electrical power. And you see these pictures coming in.

I want to bring back Jen Rogers. She's in our Los Angeles bureau, watching all of this as well. Under normal circumstances, traffic starts to pick up pretty soon in Los Angeles. It's, what, about 1:30, just after 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time, L.A. time; 4:33 on the East Coast. But rush hour traffic can be horrendous in L.A. under normal circumstances. If there are no traffic lights -- and let's hope the traffic lights are back in business by then -- it could really be a mess in L.A.

ROGERS: Indeed, Wolf. I mean, traffic is no piece of cake in Los Angeles whatever time you head out your door. But if this does continue and we're going into the rush hour, that would definitely be more cause for concern, and certainly take people a long time to get home.

Now, the DWP has told us right now, while they are still investigating this, they really don't know what is causing it. There are some unknown problems at two receiving stations. And, again, that is according to the DWP. So we're trying to get a handle on how many people this is impacting and also what the cause is. Right now, the most that they will say on the cause is unknown problems at two receiving stations.

BLITZER: And you say it's warm in L.A. today, but not unusually hot or blistering hot -- which if everybody's got their air conditioning on full blast, that could cause these brownouts. But how hot is it in L.A. today?

ROGERS: Well, you know what, I have to say I don't know exactly how hot it is, but I would say it is much cooler than the heat wave that we were going through last week. I mean, this is actually sort of fall temperatures. It is not peaking at all here. This is not beach weather right now that we are going through. So it really is not a very hot day when you go outside.

BLITZER: All right, Jen, stand by. We're going to come right back to you. Ali Velshi's watching all of this unfold, as well. You've been making calls out there, Ali. What are you picking up?

VELSHI: I'm getting busy signals, is what I'm getting. I'll tell you what the weather is. That much I can give you. It's 72 Fahrenheit in Los Angeles right now, which wouldn't suggest the kind of temperature that would be putting pressure on the electrical system.

The good news is it's going much -- getting much cooler tonight. It will be about 57 in L.A. So like everybody else, they've had a break in the weather in the last little while. We are trying to determine how isolated this problem is, or how widespread it is. And whether or not there are these are rolling outages that have come back online, like we reported from Cedars Sinai Hospital right outside of Beverly Hills -- they reported the same thing our Los Angeles bureau reported, an outage that came back online.

But as you see from those live pictures or saw a few minutes ago where you have cars lined up, it is, fortunately, a little early for Los Angeles commuters to be heading home. But if -- as word of this gets out, that's what will happen. Everyone will get out and try and get home because L.A. is a traffic mess almost all the time.

The good news is the weather is good, and if this is early enough in the day, they can start that traffic flow going on right now, Wolf. And that's what you are starting to see. They can keep the traffic flow moving, that's something that the police have to think about. We are now getting reports, Wolf, Burbank Airport, my producer telling me, is now running on backup power, generator power. They have been doing that now for almost -- for about an hour. But there is power at Burbank Airport. That's not clear whether or not they're able to land and take planes off from that area.

As you know, Wolf, LAX, Burbank Airport and other surrounding airports like Long Beach, are very, very busy airports. They also can't move traffic around between the airports very easily because of the density of population in the area. So we're going to keep our eye, Wolf, on what's developing, how widespread this is and how quickly they're planning on getting it back online.

Wolf.

BLITZER: Thanks, Ali. We'll check back with you.

Let's dip into coverage from our affiliate KCAL in Los Angeles. Hear what they're reporting.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The next time, if there is a next time for you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Electricity at LAPD headquarters, that being right downtown, at Parker Center. They do have -- they do not have electricity there. However, the fire department is reporting that they have had no calls of problems associated with this power outage. So far, so good. It hasn't set off anything that would be something we'd care to report on. But the power is out at LAPD headquarters. But the fire department says no major reports.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So this is going on a little bit over half an hour since the major power outage. And we'll just wait and see how long this goes on and when it will be that we'll actually get some information as to what this has happened -- why this has happened, and exactly how widespread it is. Right now it looks like mostly downtown, Hollywood area. Also, the Valley, as well.

And again, looks like the biggest problem we're seeing right now is the traffic. A lot of backups right now. Those lights not working. And as it gets later, if that doesn't change soon, it could be a very, very messy commute. Already we saw the backup on to the freeways and the surface streets as well. So this could be a big problem.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Derrick Bell (ph), looks like you're headed inbound there toward the Civic Center, and from the Valley, I guess?

DERRICK BELL, KCAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm sorry. That's right. We're on southbound on the 101 Freeway, the Hollywood Freeway, as we just passed Vine Street. We are heading toward downtown Los Angeles. See if we can see any major problems. But as we pass over Hollywood, I've taken a look at different intersections, seeing if they're having any difficulty. For the moment now, it appears that the lights are on in the Hollywood area. And we'll give you updates as we make our way toward downtown Los Angeles.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we're, of course in Hollywood. And we can tell you, as we were seeing earlier -- and we had some power problems. But power has been restored. We seem to be up and running fine right now. Getting reports -- we were talking earlier about the LAPD headquarters being without power. We heard some reports from people who are living in some -- or who are in some of the high-rises downtown, and they, too, are without electricity. Just stop and think that that can be such a problem when you have such a long elevator ride and you have no elevator. Hopefully, no one is trapped in those.

But you mentioned earlier, fire department reporting it doesn't have any major problems it's dealing with right now. We don't know whether they would consider that to be a major problem with people trapped in elevators. Usually, there is a mechanism allowing them -- allows them to easily open the doors and get people out. So, hopefully, if you are in an elevator right now, things are not too bad. And hopefully it won't be getting too hot in there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're just now getting word that...

BLITZER: All right. We're going to move back here to THE SITUATION ROOM. Our affiliate KCAL doing some reporting on what's going on in Los Angeles.

Jim Wells is with the Los Angeles Fire department. He's joining us on the phone now. Jim, where exactly are you?

JIM WELLS, L.A. FIRE DEPARTMENT: We're in downtown Los Angeles.

BLITZER: What -- and what is going on, based on the information you have?

WELLS: Well, right now, we understand that there is a major power disruption throughout the city of Los Angeles, including West Los Angeles, some places in the Valley. Right now the power is coming on in some of those areas.

As far as the fire department is concerned, we're dealing with quite a few calls for people that are stuck in elevators. So we're trying to advise people to stay off of the elevators. Our operation now is almost synonymous with that of a major earthquake that would occur in the city of Los Angeles. In other words, each fire station is operating almost on its own, along with what we could call our area command. We have helicopters flying throughout the city of Los Angeles. We have not had any major problems as a result of this major power disruption.

BLITZER: And then no indication of any major fires or anything like that? WELLS: No. We've had no fires at all. And we'd like to advise people in a situation like this, when the stoplights are out, just treat every intersection as a four-way stop and people will be able to traverse the streets of Los Angeles and any other area in this country, as long as they treat these out stoplights as a four-way stop. And once again, the fire department, we are able to traverse the area if necessary. It may be a little bit difficult for us, but we can get to any type of calls that we might have. The fire department is functioning as it would in any type of an emergency.

BLITZER: Jim, do you remember an incident of this nature occurring in recent memory?

WELLS: Not exactly like this. We did have one, but it affected basically the 911 system when the power went out like this. But it appears at this point that we have had no -- it has had no effect on the 911 system. It's basically the power that has been disrupted as far as the lights and things of this nature. Sometimes the computers. But it appears that all of our 911 calls have been getting through properly.

BLITZER: I remember two years ago when they had the blackout in New York City in the northeastern part of the United States. There were a lot of people stuck in elevators at the time. What do you do if you are stuck in an elevator? You just have to wait until the power comes back?

WELLS: Basically that's what you have to do. Make a call and let the fire department know that you are stuck in an elevator. But there's not a lot you can do. We can get to the elevator. It was mentioned earlier by you I think, that there are mechanisms in place for the elevators that we can lower the elevators to certain floors, and get people out that are trapped in the elevator. We would advise people -- I know it's difficult for them, obviously, to hear your programming now, but to not panic when they are inside of an elevator. Eventually the power will be restored.

This is not a blackout such as the one that you mentioned earlier. This is more of a power disruption and it's intermittently throughout the city of Los Angeles.

BLITZER: Are you getting, Jim, any indication from authorities the cause of this blackout, the cause of this power outage?

WELLS: Well, I really wouldn't want to go into that at this point, because it's still under investigation. We've got our Department of Water and Power there checking all avenues and every place that they possibly can to find out exactly what has caused this. The period of time that this will take is unknown at this point. But they are trying very desperately to get power back to their customers, and get everything back to operation the way it should be in the city.

BLITZER: The Associated Press, Jim, is quoting Sergeant Catherine Plows of the LAPD, the Los Angeles Police Department, saying, terrorism is not suspected. Although the department has gone on what she calls full tactical alert, meaning no officers are allowed to leave duty. What does that say to you?

WELLS: Well it tells me that we have a situation in the city of Los Angeles that has to be dealt with by many different agencies. And the Los Angeles Police Department is one of the major agencies that has to deal with a situation like this regardless of what the cause might be. But once again, we cannot rule out what it may or may not be at this point.

The only thing that we can do is to continue to investigate, continue to make sure that the citizens of Los Angeles are safe, and that is what the Los Angeles Police Department is doing. I'm sure they have a spokesman that could speak better on that. But once again, working in concert with the fire department and law enforcement, working together, we will make sure that the citizens are safe.

BLITZER: And we can see the intersections, we're showing our viewers, Jim, some live pictures, courtesy of our affiliate KTLA. At those intersection, cars, trucks, pedestrians, everyone has to be very, very careful, because the lights, clearly, are not working and you have to just gingerly go through those intersections to make sure there is no accident.

One final question, Jim, before I let you get back to work. It's 72 degrees, we're told now, in Los Angeles. Doesn't sound very hot. Doesn't sound like a lot of air conditioning would necessarily cause what's called a brownout. So it doesn't look like the weather necessarily is a factor in this.

WELLS: Well once again, we don't want to speculate too far ahead of the Department of Water and Power that is actually doing this investigation as to what has transpired here. But as you spoke about the traffic, once again, it's going to be very difficult for people to traverse the streets of Los Angeles. But once again, it's very important anywhere in this country, that people treat -- any time that a stoplight is out, to treat it like a four-way stop and stop and be courteous to other drivers.

And we will get through this. This is a situation that we have dealt with before. The fire department, the police department and other agencies are well aware of what they should be doing in order to resolve this type of situation. I feel that the situation will probably be resolved within the next couple of hours.

BLITZER: We see some fires courtesy of our affiliate KABC in Los Angeles. We see smoke in the horizon on a few places, if our viewers look carefully in their screens. They can see some dark smoke coming up. I see, two, three locations, including one fire. But you say, as of right now, Jim Wells, of the Los Angeles Fire Department, you have no reports of any fires erupting?

WELLS: No. Let us understand that in a city of almost 4 million people, we have fires every day, regardless of whether or not there's any type of power disruption or interruption. So we will have incidents, even during this period of time. So to see smoke somewhere in the city of Los Angeles, does not mean that there is fires breaking out because we have a problem with the power. Like I say, again we must remember that we do have fires every single day in the city of Los Angeles -- be that major fires or just minor trash fires.

You see smoke on the horizon. But you really don't know if that's a car fire or trash fire or could be some grass that's burning. And we do have those type of fires every single day. So we just want your listeners and watchers to know that we, in the city of Los Angeles, at this hour, we do not have any major fires breaking out. We do not have any major problems in the city of Los Angeles. The only situation that we're dealing with it s a power disruption and the people's ability to traverse the streets of Los Angeles.

BLITZER: Jim Wells is with the Los Angeles Fire Department helping us better understand what's going on. Jim, thank you very much. We'll check back with you soon.

Let's check back with our own Jen Rogers in our Los Angeles Bureau for a little bit more information she's gathering. What are you picking up, Jen?

ROGERS: Well, Wolf, we are starting to hear about communities coming back online. That means that the lights are coming back on in those neighborhoods. We still, of course, do have outages, and you can see that when you look at the video and the traffic crawling along through those intersections. We do have a report from LAX, that's Los Angeles International Airport, that it is fully operational. That everything there is up and running. In fact, Sibila Vargas, a CNN reporter, landed there a short time ago, took a look around and said that everything there was to be as expected.

A couple more things, though, from the DWP, that's the Department of Water and Power. They did say -- these are just some tips if you are watching this in Los Angeles. If you are lucky enough to have power. To avoid downed power lines, if people see them. Try not to operate any electrical appliances, because, of course, when power does come back, better to have those off than on at this point.

BLITZER: All right. Jen, we'll be checking back with you as well.

There's other important news we're watching, including the resignation of Michael Brown as the FEMA director. CNN's Jeanne Meserve is picking up some important information.

MESERVE: Wolf, we're hearing a name now that -- from administration sources, two of them, that there is going to be an acting director of FEMA. He is going to be David Paulison. Paulison has been head of the Preparedness Division at FEMA. Before coming to FEMA, he was head of the Fire and Rescue Department of Miami-Dade, Florida, and in that capacity had some role to play in the recovery from Hurricane Andrew.

One of the sources with whom I spoke this evening said he's the man picked for the job, at least temporarily, because of his 30 years of experience in emergency operations and rescue operations. So David Paulison, right now head of the Preparedness Division of FEMA, also the U.S. Fire Administrator. The man tapped to take over for Michael Brown, at least for the time being, as director of FEMA.

Wolf, back to you.

BLITZER: So he heads the department, at least for the time being, as acting FEMA director?

MESERVE: That's correct.

BLITZER: All right. Let's get back to what's happening in Los Angeles. The electrical power going out for a big chunk of the city. What are you hearing from your sources?

MESERVE: Well, I had a brief conversation with the Department of Homeland Security. They, of course, have been trying to figure out what the situation is out there. The brief headline from them is, at this point in time, there is no indication of any sort of nexus with terrorism. Not terrorism related, as far as they know at this point in time.

Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. They don't know exactly what has happened, but they are ruling out, at for the time being, any indication of foul play, specifically terrorism. We'll continue to watch this story with you. Thank you, Jeanne, very much.

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